Historical vehicles: Passenger Paddle Steamboat, The Franz Joseph I.

On the 11th June,  2014 the Ministry of  Industry and Trade  of the Czech Republic is going to  issue a commemorative  postage stamp in the denomination of 25 CZK from the issue Historical  Vehicles. The stamp depicts the Passenger Paddle Steamboat, the Franz Joseph I.

The largest and most prominent of the six paddle steamers built in Prague was the passenger (saloon) steamer, the Franz Josef I. A new acquisition, the third large-scale ship of the Prague Steamboat Company (PPS) was inspired by a notable increase in the interest of passengers on the Prague - Zbraslav – Štěchovice line after 1880 (particularly in the extremely successful year of 1884). In mid-1886, there was a competition which was entered by several  shipbulding companies: The First Bohemian-Moravian machine factory, the KETTE D.E.G. shipyard from Dresden and the Prague joint stock Engineering Company,  the  former "Rustonka". The Prague company eventually won the competition and delivered a modern steamboat with a full capacity of 800 people for 55,000 guldens.
The large capacity required of the paddle steamboat led the shipyard to come up with a new design. The steamboat, with regard to the turning basin of the Vltava river in Prague at that time, could not be too long, but at the same time it had to have a low draft (0.72 meters). It was therefore necessary to increase the displacement of the ship using a fairly full bow. However, that required more powerful machinery. Therefore the steamboat got, for the first time in the history of the Vltava-Elbe passenger transportation, a horizontal steam engine with an output of 120 horsepower.
In addition to the richly furnished lounges with wallpaper and blinds, it also had a small upper deck accessible to passengers in the space between the paddle wheels. That was much earlier than with the ships of the Dresden steam navigation company, whose steamboat with the upper deck called the "Oberdeckdampfer" (Upper-deck steamboat), sailed up the river in 1896, a full nine years later. Interestingly, despite the use of the upper deck, the steamboat it did not have a steering system on the bridge, its directional control, the same as with other Prague paddle steamboats, was a manual helm from the stern.
The newly built steamboat was initially deployed on the route from Prague to Zbraslav, which was then the most crowded line of PPS. Hundreds of people from Prague used the steamboats for trips to Chuchle (then far from Prague), Modřany and to the summer resort Zbraslav. For example, in 1889, the paddle steamboat performed 136 trips to Zbraslav, 86 to Štěchovice and 65 to Davle. The steamboat was also used for sightseeing  tours with prominent guests, such as the one on the 10th June, 1920, in which the first Czechoslovak president T.G. Masaryk participated.
The steamboat sunk under tragic circumstances, but was raised up and repaired. After 1918, it also changed its name twice to Zbraslav (in 1918) and Praha (in 1929).
The author of the design of the stamp is the academic painter Pavel Sivko, the engraving of the FDC is the work of the engraver Jaroslav Tvrdoň.
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The stamp, sized 40 x 23 mm has been printed by the Post Printing House in Prague by multicoloured offset in printing sheets of 50 pcs (combination 25 pcs of stamps the automobile Z4 (Zbrojovka Brno) and 25 pcs of stamps the Passenger Paddle Steamboat the Franz Joseph I.)
There  will be issued  1 First Day Cover incl. commemorative cancellation. The picture part of the cover shows a detail of the Passanger Paddle Steamboat the Franz Joseph I.  The cover has been printed by recess print from flat plates in black. On the handstamp is the anchor and the text: P.P.S. Praha, 11. 6. 2014.
The stamp is valid  from 11th  June, 2014.  
On the 11th June,  2014 also 1 Carte maximum with a  picture of the Passanger Paddle Steamboat the Franz Joseph I. will be issued to complete this issue.
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Date of issue: 11th June, 2014
Graphic arrangement: Pavel Sivko
Engraving of the FDC: Jaroslav Tvrdoň
Picture size: 40 x 23 mm
Face value: 25 CZK
Method of the printing of the stamp: multicoloured offset
Method of the printing of the FDC: recess print from flat plates
Number of stamp in the printing sheet: 50 pcs (combination 25 pcs of stamps the automobile Z4 (Zbrojovka Brno) and 25 pcs of stamps the Passenger Paddle Steamboat the Franz Joseph I.).
Number of the FDCs: 1 pc
Subject of the  stamp: the Passenger Paddle Steamboat the Franz Joseph I. 
Subject of the FDC: a detail of the Passanger Paddle Steamboat the Franz Joseph I.  
Editor: Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic
Producer: Post Printing House, Ortenovo nám. 16, CZ-170 04 Praha 7
Supplier: PostFila, Export Department, 
Ortenovo nám. 16, CZ-170 24 Praha 7